I feel a bit of Bushido left in Karatsu.

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 I'm in my 5th month in Karatsu, and I've recognized something interesting.

There is a little bit of Bushido left in Karatsu.

Back about 400 years, a samurai lord wanted to expand to the continent and gathered his troops in Karatsu from across Japan.

The Daimyo lords put their temporary houses, temples, and cultures here so that's probably one reason why I feel a bit of Bushido left in the Karatsu people.

Karatsu Castle

My daily walking course includes Karatsu Castle. 
When I head towards the castle, there is a volunteer uncle that is taking care of the trees planted to protect Karatsu from the ocean waves.

The way he talks, somehow resembles 

When he learned that I grew up in California and from outside of town, but love Karatsu, he vowed and told me to be careful on the way to the castle.

He emphasized that the stairs are steep and could cause injury, so I need to be careful.

But the way he expresses that, kind of sounds as if he is talking to the samurais heading towards the castle where the leader is.

Value old customs

Another thing I noticed is they value old customs.

When you take care of your house well, or greet the people around you, or show mutual respect, they value you.

But when you act like an outsider who doesn't really care about the local community, they do things that naturally make you want to leave the town.

Where I grew up in Foster City, small town in the Bay Area, the town is pretty small we say Hi to strangers all the time.

So, that's just what I'm used to. In Tokyo, people will look at me like I'm crazy or they're too busy to embrace that kind of moment I figured out that I better not do it.

But here in Karatsu, people have more space and time.

And 90% of the time, people greet me back. Also, there was this lady I greeted then came back to tell me that I had a random piece of paper stuck on my back.

She offered to clean it up for me but very politely.

"Is it ok if I take something stuck on your back? I saw it when you greeted me and I wanted to let you know. Here, looks better. Itterasshai." 

Haha, thanks:)

I felt something similar in Paris and Kyoto but it's way more Bushido sided here.

During the Edo era, samurais were one of the most powerful people.

But they needed to go through hard training both physically and mentally.

When you have customs that prove you've gone spiritual training, they classify you as somebody worthy and treat with respect.

Greeting hello is one of the easiest customs to have. But not many do it anymore. Just doing that stands you out and people feel that you're not their enemy.

Interesting...

Vanity

I’m not saying it's a bad thing at all.

Japanese are relatively people with vanity.

This comes from 恥 or shame, talked in The Chrysanthemum and the Sword. In order not to be shameful there are things we do to keep our identity.

That includes, keeping our clothing and where we live tidy and organized.

The car in good shape.

Giving more (I heard kunchi festival was about having a luxirous feast of vanity)

These things involve money. So, the Karatsu people uses money to maintain what they value.

I think it's actually a good thing, because it keeps the city clean and tidy.


I'm getting hooked with Karatsu

In Karatsu, I feel that people have more tolerance to people failing.

When I was still learning how to fillet fish, they told me to embrace failure, to be able to know how to improve.

Not just filleting but other cases, they are very tolerant, and will help the team.

They say,"mou yokayo" which literally means, "it's ok, I'll take care of it" and help you, while they give you time for you to improve.

Bushido is also about improving yourself everyday.

What surprises me is people mutually concessions on the road for example.

People in other areas are way more in a hurry.

The Karatsu people let you go first in a lot of cases where people won't.

This kind of customs people have here, is what Japan has forgotten after the economic boom that came in the 1950's.

But I'm glad that the spirit that we used to have is left here in Karatsu.

Come join me on the journey at Karatsu. 

I moved into Karatsu on March, 2025 from the variety of fish it has.

But I want to try to work with the local businesses and the government to show you hints of the samurai town.

It has great traditional content that is interesting, but it's still hidden.

It will be my pleasure to show you the charms of the samurai city as an experience that we all can learn from to better our lives.

Thanks for Reading! 

Follow me on my journey discovering the best fish dishes of Japan. I will open a fish laboratory in my akiya abandoned house I'm going to live soon.

I would love to connect with people interested in fishes, cooking, and Japanese food. Share me your interests, and let's hang out!

This will be my long game, and I look forward to sharing what happens.

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